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I think this quiz is cool because you can say how much each issue matters to you and if you click "Choose another stance" there are some more specific choices if your opinion on something isn't so black and white.

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I looked at the explanations, and obviously the results are imperfect. For instance, I'm generally a supporter of Israel, so I just answered "yes" to whether the US "should continue to support Israel." Gary Johnson's view on the issue, roughly speaking, is that the US should continue to be an ally of Israel (as opposed to, say, Ron Paul who says we shouldn't take sides at all), but only that we shouldn't provide aid. I take that to mean, US companies should be free to sell most military hardware to Israel, but that the taxpayer should not subsidize the purchases, just like we don't with Saudi Arabia, Great Britain, Canada, South Korea, etc.

I also think the PATRIOT Act question is inane. The vast majority of it either has nothing to do with surveillance (for instance, one of the provisions extends money laundering prohibitions extraterritorily) or are completely uncontroversial (giving the FBI the power to monitor suspected terrorists in the same manner that it has been doing with respect to organized crime for decades).

But yeah, it's just for fun.

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Obviously the other flaw is that it takes the candidates' "official position" on various issues. So on the gun control issue, I suspect that Obama would actually want to impose strict federal gun control laws, but is not pushing the issue for political reasons.

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I also think the PATRIOT Act question is inane. The vast majority of it either has nothing to do with surveillance (for instance, one of the provisions extends money laundering prohibitions extraterritorily) or are completely uncontroversial (giving the FBI the power to monitor suspected terrorists in the same manner that it has been doing with respect to organized crime for decades).

Theres other answers available than yes/no, i.e. "Yes, but limit the scope of the gov'ts powers". Heck, most of my answers were from the "choose another stance" bar a few that I was pretty clear yes/no on.

Not surprised at my results. Stein, Obama (both in the 70-80% range) Johnson, Paul (both in the 60-70% range). After Paul was some guy called Stewart Johnson who I've never even heard of and the Rent Is Too Damn High guy followed by the hard right guys Mitt and Goode. I like how it calculated the state results. I sided with 86% of NJ that have done this and 60% of the country.

I agreed with Mitt on immigration only (30% total). Lowest was Virgil Goode. 15%!

One thing Im noticing with a lot of our collective results is that many of us have Gary Johnson or Paul relatively high, but the major parties are far more polarizing.

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These sound like results for right wing extremists (unless you didn't answer the questions seriously). Like them or not, Obama and Romney are both fairly mainstream candidates for America, and hold positions that have general favorability. Look at squishyx's results; yes a large percentage for Obama, but more than 50% for Romney as well. I'm sure you both know who you are and don't need some test to tell you or make you feel comfortable with yourself. I'm just a little bit surprised. *A caveat: this test may have been made to be good at estimating "Most compatible" without much thought for how good it would be at estimating "Least compatible." That's a very real possibility, and if this thing is not meant to be at all scientific, then my bad. Either way, I don't mean to be accusatory.*

Me:

Obama 83% Economic, Domestic, Sience, Social

Stein 65% Healthcare

Johnson 58% Immigration, Environmental

Romney 51% Immigration

Paul 43% Foreign Policy, Environmental, Immigration

New Jersey Voters 31%

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These sound like results for right wing extremists (unless you didn't answer the questions seriously). Like them or not, Obama and Romney are both fairly mainstream candidates for America, and hold positions that have general favorability. Look at squishyx's results; yes a large percentage for Obama, but more than 50% for Romney as well. I'm sure you both know who you are and don't need some test to tell you or make you feel comfortable with yourself. I'm just a little bit surprised.

I don't know I got 10% for Romney but over 70% for both Paul and Johnson. Just because Obama and Romney aren't somewhere in the middle or higher doesn't mean you didn't answer them seriously.

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Just found this map based on results from this questionnaire. Apparently if people voted just based on the issues, Gary Johnson would be kicking some serious ass.

People only vote loosely on issues. Always have, always will. In fact, most people have only a vague idea of what the issues are. My favorite example is that for all of the debate about Roe v. Wade. For the amount of people that rank abortion as one of their most important issues, my guess (I haven't been able to find a link) is that 70 percent of the electorate has no clue what the holding actually was, and many more people probably wouldn't understand the basic reasoning behind the majority and the dissent.